It's both. In stronger drug addictions, the ritual itself is rewarding even if there are no drugs present in your system yet.

Add that to conditioned place preference and you have your rewarding coffee ritual.

There is an absolutely huge ritual part to it because I have been trying swap out coffee and just take caffeine pills in the morning to be more exact in my caffeine consumption.

I just can not do it. It is just not the same sitting here without the taste, smell and sensory experience completely divorced from the actual caffeine. That is with even taking more caffeine than I would get from my brew coffee.

Yes, my morning coffee and cigarette breakfast was the most rewarding ritual. I basically couldn’t start my day without it!

Even though I quite smoking over 10 years ago I still remember it with the fondness of an old friend.